Social media continues to grow

Social media continues to be just another undefined term that experts and not so experts throw around to define just about anything that relates to twitter, facebook, blogs, etc.  Everyone should have a social media strategy according to them and if not are missing a huge opportunity.  The power of social media in the minds of experts is the single most important element in any good marketing strategy.  Many smarter than me have pointed out that social media is not a strategy, has no defined ROI (What is the return on a like?) and not every company necessarily needs a multi-pronged social media effort.

I couldn't agree more with those three sentiments.  Yes, we are engaged in social media but we don't have have a defined social media strategy.  We have a defined member engagement strategy and social media is part of that strategy.  Our product designs, branch events, and all other marketing strategies are designed to drive interaction.  This may be through providing valuable content thru several sources, providing resources members need or offering education or services that are important.

Additionally, we feel our brand is best expressed when you experience what it means to be a member of the credit union.  A tweet or facebook post isn't going to help.  What helps is when a members tweets a concern and their concern is addressed via twitter in a timely matter when the members knows the rest of the credit union is gone for the day.

If the above is a social media strategy then I guess we have one. We are not social media strategy experts, we are however very focused on engaging our members however we can.

My take, as social media grows, the more able businesses, and especially credit unions, should be able to engage meaningfully with larger and larger numbers of their members.